Posted
by
samzenpus
on Monday June 18, 2012 @12:55PM
from the hot-coffee dept.

Dexter Herbivore writes "A lot of Australian gamers are saying, 'finally' as legislation passed parliament to support the introduction of a R-18+ category for games. From the article: 'Jason Clare, the Minister for Home Affairs has just announced that R18+ for games is set to become a reality, after legislation successfully passing through the Federal Parliament, having just gone through the Senate without amendment.'"

Which is something I've been wondering about, why do Aussies put up with such assraping prices? It isn't like they are hiring translators to throw some reject from a Foster's beer commercial because the folks down under can't understand American English, as far as i know you're not using some strange formats like some weird offshoot of PAL that isn't compatible with anyone else, but I've noticed when talking to Aussie gamers they are getting totally bent over not only on the hardware but the software as wel

As a consumer i can't force distributors to charge less to aussie retailers, i can't force retailers to sell at a lower price. i can't force online stores to not charge higher prices for digital downloads just because i'm in australia.

my options are:a) try and find someone online that will ship to australia with at reasonable price(incl shipping).b) get an overseas v.p.n. possibly credit card and pretend i'm overseas to buy digital copies at a reasonable price.c) pirated) give up and pay inflated prices

Damn, I wish I had about 10 grand to cover startup costs as it sounds like a great business opportunity, I could sell at cost plus 20% and the Aussies would be getting a great deal and I'd be making a nice profit for myself. I'm right next to two of the major distribution hubs so I get nearly anything in 2-3 days max, usually next day. I'd just have to figure a way around getting screwed by fake CC numbers, bitcoin maybe? Because at the prices you guys are getting charged the USA might as well be Mexico, Ot

Damn, I wish I had about 10 grand to cover startup costs as it sounds like a great business opportunity, I could sell at cost plus 20% and the Aussies would be getting a great deal and I'd be making a nice profit for myself. I'm right next to two of the major distribution hubs so I get nearly anything in 2-3 days max, usually next day.

A pretty bad business plan as you'll be competing with companies that already ship to Australia like Play-Asia (HK), Zavvi (UK) or DVD.co.uk (erm, UK) also with existing drop shippers like Oz Game Shop and the fact that retailers like JB HiFi are finally realising that the prices they pay for games are bullshit and have started direct import, bypassing the local distributor.

Parallel importing has been legal for some time. The last game I bought locally was Starcraft 2 and I only did that because I wanted it

If you want the latest AAA game in Australia you normally have to shell out over AU$100, however you can order games from anywhere in the world and if you have a PS3 you can play that game (most xbox360 games can also be played as well). The problem with ordering from overseas is the cost of shipping which can be quite expensive. There are sites such as here [wowhd.com.au] that normally get their games from Hong Kong and in Australia shipping is free although you may have to wait up to two weeks for delivery.

Whilst I know that you are trolling, I'd like to let most people know that Australians haven't drunk Fosters for more than 20 years. It's the horse piss that we export, similar to Coronas for Mexicans. Oh, and rugby is only big in 2 of our 7 states, the rest of Australia tends to prefer Australian Rules football. Most Australians don't know how to throw a boomerang, and we call shrimp 'prawns'. Drop Bears [australianmuseum.net.au] are real though, watch out for them.

Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if that were true at one time... while I don't know how rampant pederasts were, in the late 1700s when Australia was established as a penal colony, they only sent men and boys. I believe it was the second or third ship when the prisoners at Botany Bay begged the next load to include women because the situation was "getting out of hand" (I think those were the exact words) and a couple ships after that before they actually got women, mostly prostitutes, if I recall correctly

I doubt you export much of it. The piss (of this type) sold in the USA is brewed in Canada. It's even worse then 'real' Fosters.

You are wrong about Corona though. Mexicans love that piss, don't ask me why, 'Miller High Life' cost much less and tastes exactly the same.

I disagree - Corona tastes and smells like it was brewed with toilet water, which it probably was, Miller High Life has that nasty rice aftertaste like all mass brewed American beers (which are brewed with rice that didn't separate from the chaff and would be thrown away otherwise). I honestly can't tell the difference between Miller, Coors, Budweiser, etc anymore - all I taste is the rice (or corn, which is worse - think Hamms) aftertaste. And Mexicans drink Corona (or Sol) because they are the cheapest be

Guinness is piss. Try 'Obsidian Oatmeal Stout'; you will never drink Guinness again. Pilsner Urquel is far better (though very different) beer. Even there local microbrewed copies are generally better.

Yep and its still the same story there, only takes one state to block it.I predict there will be a dispute about what classifies as 18+, religious groups will want the current 15+ to become the new 18+, with what should be 18+ remaining banned from local sale. Backwater religious dominated state wont get their way, so will refuse to sign the new legislation.

Not holding my breath for any advancement to actually take place, all that will happen, if anything, is that current 15+ games will require 18+ photo id to purchase like alcohol.

Actually the big deal here is after a decade or more of negotiation all of the states finally agreed.It came so close so many times, and then a newly elected government in a state would get some cheap "for the children" publicity with a single press release to throw a spanner in the works.

Just like how ESRB Ao-rated games are listed on XBL, PSN, etc. in the US today. Oh, wait: the console makers don't allow any Ao-rated games to be played on their hardware in the US.

Plus the console makers can excuse themselves by saying they were never designed for the R-18+ rating and opt not to push an update to recognize and thus enable their play, to preserve their family-friendly image.

That's unlikely. Everything that is currently banned was banned because it was not deemed not appropriate for 15-18 year olds, and there was no way to have an adult rating.

Imagine trying to have 'children;s' television/books/etc. What counts as 'children's'? exactly? There is, I think, a reasonable point at which some content is not appropriate to marketed as for some ages. Even if you're not talking about sex and violence you're talking about material the child might understand (material for 8 year old

It moves a threshold. It's not that all bets are off. All of the British devolved countries inherited some sort of official censorship board, which will have gone through various stages of renaming and so on. But there will still be material that in some way offends the senses and isn't considered suitable for any agegroup. If the Aussie politicians are smart (good luck with that) they'll just adopt the PEGI system and be done with it. But I'm sure they'll find a way to waste money ensuring local sensi

Previously, the highest rating available for games was MA15+ (Mature Audiences), which is meant for 15-18 year olds. If a game was not able to fit in this category for any reason (language, sex, nudity, etc), then it was placed in Refuse Classification. There are other ways for a game to receive an RC status, such as promoting serious crimes, pedophilia, etc. Note that RC exists for films, books and magazines too - its just that these other categories have R18 and X18 categories available, meaning there is

It's also noteworthy that the idiot we have a Federal Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, is planning to have his mandatory Internet filter block all RC content

He's gone quiet on the internet filter lately, since he's realised that it has been detracting from his good idea (The NBN) but the filter was only for child pornography and real illegal things. Not that I don't disagree it could have been expanded in the future - I don't agree with any kind of government filtering - but "blocking all RC content